The Formation of Belief

Beliefs can come from two sources: our own experience and reflections, or as
a blind acceptance of what other people tell us. These are very different
methods and are often based on very different
preferences and attitudes to the world and people around us.

Self-generated belief

Self-generated beliefs are those we create ourselves. People who generally
prefer to self-generate are often open, confident and
curious. They seek truth over comfort and social acceptance. They may be
distrusting of experts and other authorities. They prefer argument and debate to
quick and blind acceptance. They are willing to live with uncertainty and
ambiguity until their belief is formed.

Experience

'Experience is a hard master, but a fool will have no other.' It has a ring
of truth about it, but also is the ultimate method we have of finding the truth.

Trying things for ourselves is how we start out as children and we continue to
use this approach to some degree through our lives.
The extent to which we
continue to seek truth through experience depends on a range of factors, including
parental guidance and the level and style of education we received.

Experience is useful for continuous improvement of the beliefs and models we
use. For example a person may be bluntly honest at home, but finds that speaking
your mind is not effective in particular work settings.

Experiment

Experience may come from thing that happen to us. It may also be deliberately
sought, in particular when we try out various experiments.

In a scientific sense, truth comes from carefully designed experiments which
prove what is true and what is not. Yet 'proven' truths are constantly
being challenged and re-examined. We may also do informal experiments in our
daily lives to test and improve our beliefs.

A key benefit of thoughtful experimental is in sharpening beliefs,
showing where they work and do not work. The rules that we create in sound
research are hence more likely to be true
and worth believing.

Reflection

A variation on external experimentation is internal reflection and thought.
It is a lot easier and can often be done much quicker. It can be done in most
places, although it is best done when there are less external distractions.

Reflection includes general musing about things and building internal
mental models which help to explain the
external world.

In some ways reflection is opposite to experience in that it is internal
rather than external. It can also be complementary as you either reflect
after an experience or seek experiences after internal reflection.

Generalization

A key part of self-created beliefs is when we take the results of experience
and experiment, and (often through reflection) generalize this to assume that
what we have discovered in one context is equally applicable elsewhere. For
example if a child finds that nagging parents is successful, they may create a
generalized belief that nagging is a useful and often necessary way of getting
what they want with other people.

The problem with generalization from experience is that what is true in one
situation is often not true in others. Formal experimentation can help to
improve the quality of generalization yet we are still constrained by the time
we have.

Externally generated belief

Done well, experience and experiment means trying things out in practice,
observing things and generally getting a broad range of evidence before committing to a belief.
Unfortunately we only have time try a limited number of things (and what we do
try out can say a lot about us).

The alternative to finding things out for oneself is to take on board things
that others have found out. People who generally prefer to accept beliefs from
others typically have a greater need for a sense of control.
They tend to seek certainty and rapid
closure, avoiding the uncertainty of
exploration. They also are likely to have a greater tendency to
trust others and to seek
trustworthiness, although perhaps only in specific areas.

Experts

Experts are people who have proven themselves to have knowledge in particular
areas. They may have qualifications or demonstrable and skills. They are often
professionals who are paid for their expertise. When they tell you something,
you have good reason to believe it.

Experts can be met in person or they may have written books or other media
you can access. However you access their knowledge or skill, you trust them
because you believe they are expert.

People who seek experts are relatively pragmatic. They trust, but not
necessarily blindly. They are looking for someone to help in a specific area.

Authority

The difference between an expert and an authority is that you believe the
authority because of their position or charismatic powers, and not because of
any reasonable proof that they know well what they are talking about.

Managers, priests, and parents all offer beliefs based on their position
rather than their expertise. In fact we all do it when we get into arguments
where we tell rather than seeking to persuade.

People who believe authorities are
followers. They believe in the sanctity of
position or may be gullible and easy to persuade. They are likely to have a strong
need for belonging and social approval.
They may single out specific people, who they will believe blindly. Cult leaders
seek to place themselves in this position.

Canons

A 'canon' is an unchallenged set of 'truths' as set out in literature from
religious texts to scientific papers. It is the set of 'truths' that most people
working in the given area believe and accept without challenge. All work of
discovery and discussion starts from these foundations.

To challenge a canon is to put yourself in the firing line, particularly from
those who have founded their life's work on unquestioning acceptance of the
canon. Yet this is how scientific breakthroughs occur. It also helps to explain
why general acceptance and the creation of a new canon often takes a whole
generation to achieve.

So what?

When you are seeking to change beliefs, find out where the other person gets
their beliefs from. If they tend towards self-generated belief then give them
experiences or rational arguments. If they are more external, then pose as an
expert or authority, or bring in someone who can fulfil the appropriate role.